Jan. 23, 2005
WACO, Texas - Baylor Lady Bears Sophia Young and Steffanie Blackmon are two of 20 players on the prestigious John R. Wooden Award midseason list it was announced on Saturday. Young, a 6-1 junior forward, is averaging 17.1 points and 9.8 rebounds for Baylor while Blackmon, a 6-2 post, scores 16.0 points and hauls down 8.2 boards a game.
The midseason list is based on individual player performance and team records through the first half of the season. Young, who leads the nationally-ranked Lady Bears in both scoring and rebounding was originally omitted from the preseason Wooden Award list but was added due to her outstanding play so far this season. Blackmon was included in the preseason list.
Other players on the list include: Seimone Augustus of LSU; Monnique Currie of Duke; Minnesota's Janel McCarville, TCU's Sandora Irvin; UCLA's Noelle Quinn; Jacqueline Batteast of Notre Dame; Lindsay Bowen of Michigan State; Jessica Davenport of Ohio State; Ashley Earley of Vanderbilt; Dionnah Jackson of Oklahoma; Tiffany Jackson of Texas; LSU's Temeka Johnson; Khara Smith of DePaul; Kim Smith of Utah; Kendra Wecker of Kansas State; Tan White of Mississippi State; Candice Wiggins of Stanford; and Tanisha Wright of Penn State.
Players who were not on the midseason list are still eligible for the Wooden Award.
The women's Wooden Award will be presented April 9 at the Los Angeles Athletic Club.
